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Emergency Cardiac Care at Four Swedish Campuses Recognized by the Washington State Department of Health

SEATTLE, Dec. 20, 2011 – Swedish recently learned that the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) certified four of its campuses to provide emergency cardiac care services to patients throughout the Puget Sound region. Swedish Cherry Hill and Swedish Edmonds received Level 1 designations, and Swedish First Hill and Swedish Ballard received Level 2 designations.

The DOH recently developed the emergency cardiac system to provide a consistent, statewide certification program that recognizes the level of emergency care available to cardiac patients in medical facilities across Washington state.

This new designation confirms Swedish’s long standing role as a leader in providing critical cardiac care in emergency settings. The Level 1 designation for Swedish Cherry Hill and Swedish Edmonds signifies that both campuses have the full range of equipment and staffing to provide 24/7 percutaneous (catheter-based) cardiac interventions as a provision of the Level 1 emergency cardiac care designation.

“Heart attacks are caused by the sudden blockage of a heart artery. Opening these blocked vessels promptly by placing stents markedly reduces the amount of heart damage that occurs,” said Jeff Westcott, M.D., medical director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Swedish Heart & Vascular Institute. “It is very important for patients who think they might be having a heart attack to call 911 right away – time is heart muscle. At Swedish we are dedicated to providing the best care for heart attacks in the region.”

Swedish First Hill and Swedish Ballard were designated Level 2 cardiac centers indicating that these sites can provide intermediate and immediate medical therapy to stabilize patients before transferring them to Level 1 facilities for further intervention and treatment.

After several years of evaluation and planning, the DOH decided to institute this new system to focus on improving timely access to critical emergency services for heart-attack and stroke patients. One goal of the new system is to make available a participating hospital no more than an hour away from every citizen. A second goal is to get heart-attack and stroke patients the necessary treatment at the most appropriate medical facility in less than 120 minutes.

Swedish has grown over the last 101 years to become the largest non-profit health provider in the Greater Seattle area with 11,000 employees, more than 2,800 physicians and 1,700 volunteers. It is comprised of five hospital campuses (First Hill, Cherry Hill, Ballard, Edmonds and Issaquah); freestanding emergency departments and ambulatory care centers in Redmond and Mill Creek; Swedish Visiting Nurse Services; and Swedish Medical Group – a network of more than 100 primary-care and specialty clinics located throughout the Greater Puget Sound area. In addition to general medical and surgical care including robotic-assisted surgery, Swedish is known as a regional referral center, providing specialized treatment in areas such as cardiovascular care, cancer care, neuroscience, orthopedics, high-risk obstetrics, pediatric specialties, organ transplantation and clinical research. For more information, visit www.swedish.org, www.swedishcares.org, www.facebook.com/swedishmedicalcenter or www.twitter.com/swedish.

In 2007, Swedish embarked upon an ambitious $100 million fundraising campaign. Campaign investments are used to support a wide variety of initiatives throughout the health-care system, including cancer, heart and vascular, women and children, neuroscience, and orthopedics as well as programs to support underserved populations. To date, the campaign has secured gifts totaling more than $87 million. For more information or to support the campaign, visit www.campaignforswedish.org.

About Swedish Heart & Vascular Institute

The Swedish Heart & Vascular Institute is a regional network of physicians at hospitals and clinics across the Puget-Sound area. It offers a broad spectrum of adult and pediatric cardiovascular-care services – from surgical and interventional procedures to the latest advances in heart-disease prevention, diagnosis and cardiovascular health and wellness. The institute – which is affiliated with more than 60 cardiac and vascular specialists, including cardiologists, surgeons, radiologists, anesthesiologists and vascular specialists – has a presence at Swedish’s Cherry Hill, Edmonds and Issaquah campuses as well as at Highline Medical Center in Burien. In addition, the Institute focuses on research and education as fundamental tools in fighting heart disease. For more information, visit www.swedish.org/heart.